rural district (cont’d) CULTIVATION STRATEGIES Daniel Imhoff in Farming with the Wild (2003) documents several cultivation strategies that are both productive and a means of enhancing ecological health and biodiversity. The three strategies listed here may be appropriate for successful and sustainable farming in Northampton’s Rural District.
Polycultures
Complex cropping systems in which two or more crop species are planted near enough to result in competition or complementary relationships, enhancing yields.
crops reduces risk for farmers because they are not relying on just one crop for their living. If pests or a cold snap wipes out one crop, farmers who grow a variety of crops are more likely to have at least one crop that will make it to market (NOFA 2010).
Two-story silvo-pastoral agriculture An agricultural system where trees are grown together with animals, resulting in enhanced complementary relationships between components, increasing multiple uses of the agroecosystem. The concept behind silvo-pastoral agriculture is that multiple functions can be stacked in the same place to maximize productivity. Two-story agriculture is well documented by J. Russell Smith in his book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture (1926). Smith argues that tree crops and two-story agriculture is a favorable strategy for hilly highlands. He documents how mature nut groves and orchards managed by livestock can produce thousands of pounds of nuts and fruit as well as high quality meat. Livestock can manage tree crops by eating plants below that compete with the tree crops, eat fallen nuts and fruit that can attract pests or diseases, and constantly fertilize the soil with their manure.
Figure 7. Farm-yard forest garden polyculture and garden
Polyculture gardens can include a variety of annual crops, perennial crops, or a mix of both. In the Rural District, where soils are thin and rocky, an emphasis on perennial polycultures will likely lead to more successful yields. The promise of polycultures is that they involve a great deal of labor to install but less and less inputs over time. The reduction of labor over time is due to the fact that perennials are planted only once rather than every year, and their crop output increases as they grow. Additionally, polycultures can be designed like forest ecosystems where plants that fertilize, mulch, and dissuade pests can be interplanted with the producing plants to create a self-reliant growing system also known as a food forest ( Jacke 2008). The productivity of food forests is not well documented for temperate climates. In general they produce less volume of an individual crop than a monoculture, but a much greater variety of crops throughout the growing season. Growing a variety of 30 30
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Rotational Grazing
A system of cycling livestock through a series of paddocks to avoid over-grazing. Several animal types and their corresponding grazing habits can use the same paddock at separate intervals to maximize the productive use of the land without exhausting it.
Figure 8. Two-story silvo-pasture and rotational chicken and sheep grazing